How to cook frozen meatballs

Frozen semi-finished products have long been included in the diet of many people. Firstly, it is very convenient, and secondly – tasty and healthy. If many agree with the first statement, then they may try to argue with the second. And here I immediately want to put everything in its place. The times when semi-finished products were considered something not very useful are in the past. Thanks to shock freezing, frozen foods do not differ in taste, aroma and nutritional composition from freshly prepared foods. The quality of such semi-finished products today is quite high and more and more people are purchasing such food preparations for themselves.

One of the most popular types of these products are frozen cutlets. No more long “conjure” over minced meat, just take the already formed cutlets and fry. In this article, we will just tell you how to choose and cook them correctly.

Choosing frozen meatballs

Before we talk directly about the cooking process, we suggest dwelling on the choice of these meat products. In order for the dish to bring you pleasure, as well as to please with its taste, we recommend that you pay attention to the following:

1. Composition. This is one of the most important points. A high-quality product will contain onions, meat, flour, spices and everything from which you make minced meat yourself at home. 
2. Retention period. Frozen cutlets cannot be stored for years. As a rule, their shelf life does not exceed 12 months. Discard products that can wait forever for their preparation.
3. Price. High-quality semi-finished products cannot be very cheap, as they contain meat. Therefore, too low a price should alert you.   

This is, perhaps, all the most important recommendations for choosing semi-finished meat products. 

Do I need to defrost cutlets first?

So, let's deal with the issue of defrosting. Someone says that it is first necessary to defrost cutlets, while someone is categorically against it. So how is it right? 

Many chefs insist that food does not need to be pre-defrosted. Open the package and start frying the patties right away. Frozen products retain their shape and do not lose their juiciness. We figured out this issue, now we proceed to the most interesting – cooking.

How to fry frozen meatballs

To make the dish as juicy and tasty as possible, we have prepared step-by-step instructions for you, according to which you can easily cook cutlets.

1. Pour the oil into the pan. Please note that it should cover the entire surface of the pan. Wait until the oil warms up to a sufficient temperature.
2. We put the cutlets in the pan and immediately cover them with a lid so that the oil splashes do not fly in different directions. 
3. Fry the patties over medium heat on one side for about a minute, then turn them over. Continue frying with the lid closed for another minute. After that, we turn the cutlets over every two minutes until a golden crust forms. 
4. When a golden crust forms on both sides of the cutlets, the lid can be removed and the dish cooked.

You can check the readiness of cutlets in the old and well-known way – pierce with a skewer or toothpick. If light juice appears, then the dish is ready. If pinkish – you still need to hold the cutlets in the pan. You can also just break one cutlet in half and see if it is ready inside or not.  

That's it – frozen cutlets in a pan are ready. You can serve them with any side dish. Appetizing, juicy and fragrant cutlets will be no worse than homemade ones. 

Bon appetit!